Text 747, 306 rader
Skriven 2005-04-06 23:33:00 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0504062) for Wed, 2005 Apr 6
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Press Gaggle by Scott McClellan
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
April 6, 2005

Press Gaggle by Scott McClellan
Aboard Air Force One
En route Rome, Italy




10:43 A.M. EDT

MR. McCLELLAN: Good morning, everybody. Let me go over the President's day
aboard Air Force One. First of all, he's pleased to be joined by his
father, President Bush, and President Clinton, as well, as the delegation
heads to Rome. His father flew in from a speech in Phoenix last night, got
here early in the morning, so he was here at the airport this morning when
we got here. And President Clinton flew in this morning, shortly before the
President arrived at Andrews, as well.

The President had a few phone calls this morning. The President called
President-elect Talabani, to congratulate him on being elected President of
the Transitional National Assembly. The President thanked President-elect
Talabani for his leadership and all that he had done to put Iraq on a path
to democracy. The President commended the Iraqi people for their courage
and determination to chart their own future, based on freedom and
democracy. And the President said that the United States would continue to
support the transitional government as the leaders move forward on drafting
a constitution and putting in place elections for a permanent government to
be elected.

President Talabani expressed Iraq's appreciation for the support from the
United States and for all that the United States had done to liberate the
Iraqi people. And President Talabani talked about the importance of moving
forward on drafting the constitution, as well. And the President noted the
historic day it was in Iraq, with the election of the Presidency Council --
the President and the two deputies. And the President said he looked
forward to working with President Talabani and the Transitional National
Assembly leadership.

The President also called the Emir of Qatar, Emir Hamad. The President
called to extend our condolences to the Emir over the terrorist attack that
took place in Qatar last month. As you all recall, that was the first
terrorist attack of its kind in Qatar. And the President expressed our
support for the Qatari people, and the two leaders talked about
intensifying our counter-terrorism cooperation.

Following those calls, the President received his morning intelligence
briefing. He was joined by the two former Presidents. And then, just a
short time ago, the President placed a call to the head coach of the Lady
Bears. The President did watch the game last night, and he called to
congratulate -- he called coach Mulkey-Robertson to congratulate the Lady
Bears on their great victory and winning the NCAA Championship.

And shortly here we'll have out -- oh, wait, one other thing. You all may
not be aware of this, but there was a CH-47, Chinook helicopter with
American troops on board that went down in Afghanistan, the indications
from the military are that it was a result of bad weather. The reports are
that at least nine troops have been lost. The President was briefed on it
by his National Security Advisor. And the families of the fallen are in the
thoughts and prayers of the President and Mrs. Bush and all Americans.

And also today, we will be putting out a statement by the President shortly
on the election of the Presidency Council in Iraq, so you will all have
that momentarily, when we get it all coordinated. It will be put out on the
ground, as well.

And I think that's all I have to update you guys on, to begin with.

Q What are the two former Presidents doing, besides the intelligence
briefing?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, that just was completed a short time ago. And they
spent a lot of time in that room, just visiting -- in the conference room
aboard Air Force One.

Q Here?

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes.

Q The briefings were in the conference room?

MR. McCLELLAN: In the conference room, yes.

Q So the three of them were together, the three Presidents were visiting in
the conference room at some point?

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes. Well, they all participated in the President's morning
intelligence briefing, and they also visited during that time, as well,
that they were in the conference room. And now they've -- they're all kind
of doing their own thing right now.

Q Do you happen to know whether this is President Clinton's first time back
on Air Force One, since he left office?

Q The tsunami, right?

MR. McCLELLAN: No, he wasn't on Air Force One for the tsunami. I think it
is. Yes, I think it is.

Q His first time? Okay.

MR. McCLELLAN: I don't know of any other time he's been on.

Q Has it been firmly established this is the first President to attend a
papal funeral?

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, my understanding -- we looked into it. My understanding
is that President Johnson did attend a papal funeral, but it was when he
was Vice President. This was back in 1963, and he led the delegation to
Rome for that funeral.

Q Who was that pope, do you know offhand?

MR. McCLELLAN: You're testing my memory.

Q Pope John XXIII.

MR. McCLELLAN: Pope John XXIII. Where's Mark Knoller when you need him?
(Laughter.)

Q What about President Carter? I know you dealt with this yesterday a
little bit, but is there -- do you have any further word on whether he was
actually invited, and declined?

MR. McCLELLAN: I expressed to your news organization, as well as some
others who called, he was invited. We did reach out to him to invite him to
participate in the delegation, and you all saw the statement from his
office, as well. It was his decision to make. We would have been more than
happy to have him be a part of the delegation to Rome.

Q And the President tomorrow is seeing the President of Italy, and then
having dinner with Berlusconi. Is he -- it seems like a rather low-key day
for him. Is that --

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, this is a time of mourning. This is a time to also
honor and celebrate the life of a truly great moral leader, Pope John Paul
II. And that is why we are going to Rome. The President will pay a courtesy
visit to President Ciampi tomorrow, early afternoon. And he will be -- the
President and Mrs. Bush will be hosting a reception for the American
hierarchy -- that's the American Cardinals -- at the Ambassador's residence
early evening tomorrow. And then he looks forward to attending a dinner
hosted by Prime Minister Berlusconi. But the focus is on celebrating the
life of Pope John Paul II.

Q So there won't be any policy discussions? For example, the remainder of
Italian troops staying in Iraq, for example?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I don't imagine will have much readout from these. I
mean, it's a dinner that he's hosting for the delegation and, you know, if
there's more to say, obviously, we will. But we'll probably try to do photo
releases from those; there won't be any press coverage of the dinner or the
courtesy visit.

Q Is the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia coming to the ranch later in the
month?

MR. McCLELLAN: We will try to keep you posted on the President's schedule.
As you're aware, typically, when we make announcements we like to do those
in coordination with the other government, as well. There are no other
announcements to make at this time.

Q When will you be able to announce that? (Laughter.)

MR. McCLELLAN: I will keep you posted.

Q Scott, any unhappiness about Sharon's decision to expand a Jewish
settlement in advance of the meeting on Monday?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, first of all -- and you heard from the President
yesterday. The President looks forward to welcoming Prime Minister Sharon
to the ranch on Monday. As you all may be aware, it was just about a year
ago this time that Prime Minister Sharon came forward with a very bold
proposal, his disengagement plan, to remove those settlements from Gaza and
parts of the West Bank. And that was a bold initiative on the part of Prime
Minister Sharon. And so this will be an opportunity now to talk about how
Israel is moving forward on the disengagement plan.

We believe it's also important that the Israelis and Palestinians continue
to coordinate -- or that they do coordinate on those efforts as Israel
moves forward on the Prime Minister's initiative. We want to do all we can
to support the parties as they move forward to the President's two state
vision. And the road map is really the way to do that. And all parties have
responsibilities under that. And the road map also talks about the
importance of ending settlement activity. There are a number of
responsibilities for both parties in the road map. One of the first phases
also calls for Palestinian leaders to dismantle terrorist organizations. So
we want to continue to support the parties as they move forward, and that's
what we will do.

So Monday's meeting is a good opportunity to talk about moving forward on
the disengagement plan and getting the parties focused on moving forward on
the road map.

Q But you're not saying the expansion of the settlement is justified
because the Palestinians haven't done enough to dismantle terrorist
activity?

MR. McCLELLAN: No, I imagine that it's an issue that they will talk about
when they meet on Monday. Our position is well known, in terms of
settlement activity, or the expansion of settlement activity -- the
President expressed that yesterday. But this is a hopeful period in the
Middle East; it's a hopeful period for the Palestinian people and for the
Israeli people. And there has been some important progress made. As the
President said yesterday, he believes that they are two leaders that are
committed to moving forward on a vision of two states living side by side
in peace and security, and we want to do what we can to support those
efforts.

As you're aware, the President has also extended an invitation to President
Abbas to come to the United States -- or come back to the United States, I
should say.

Q Would it be too much, then, to call this decision by Sharon needlessly
provocative?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, again, let's let the discussions take place on this
and other issues. As I said, the focus, really, of the meeting will be
talking about moving forward on implementing the disengagement plan and
what we can do to support efforts of the parties to move forward on the
President's two state vision. And we believe as they move forward on the
disengagement plan, that it's important that the Israelis and Palestinians
cooperate on that effort -- or that initiative.

Q The helicopter that went down in Afghanistan, if you find out it was any
of the four that Mrs. Bush used last week, would you let us know?

MR. McCLELLAN: Okay. I don't -- it was a Chinook helicopter; I'm not sure
that she was on a Chinook. I assume that she was not.

Q She was on four big helicopters, there were four big helicopters.

MR. McCLELLAN: You were there.

Q That's why I'm asking, because that's the only --

MR. McCLELLAN: Okay. I'll find out. Sure. Anything else for now? We'll see
if some of the Presidents visit.

Q Yes, what are the prospects of some visitors from up front?

Q What are they doing to entertain themselves?

MR. McCLELLAN: Former President Bush and I came back earlier this morning,
but you all were absent. I guess they hadn't let you on yet. (Laughter.) We
were coming back to say "hi."

Q That doesn't count.

MR. McCLELLAN: I'll express to all your interest in seeing them.

Q What are they doing? Are they reading or sleeping?

MR. McCLELLAN: They dispersed and went different ways and are doing their
own thing right now.

Q Are they swapping lies? (Laughter.)

MR. McCLELLAN: They've been having a good visit.

Q Are they dropping off in Rome, or coming back to Texas?

MR. McCLELLAN: President Clinton, I believe, is flying back on the support
plane. And President Bush, I think, is coming with us to Texas, but he may
assume a separate schedule after he gets back to Texas.

Q Support goes into Washington and the other goes to Texas?

MR. McCLELLAN: Right. And we have a nice 11-hour flight to Waco, home of
the Lady Bears, the National Champion Lady Bears. (Laughter.)

Q Is the President going to greet them at the ranch, or will they come to
the White House?

MR. McCLELLAN: The President looks forward to them coming to the White
House. I think he expressed that in the call to the coach.

Q What is the coach's name? I didn't -- you mentioned it, but --

MR. McCLELLAN: Mulkey-Robertson. Her first name is Kim. Kim
Mulkey-Robertson.

Q Didn't she go to LSU?

MR. McCLELLAN: I don't know. Is that where you went?

Q No, no, no, my brother.

MR. McCLELLAN: Oh, your brother, okay.

Q Thanks.

MR. McCLELLAN: Thanks.

END 10:57 A.M. EDT

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